Cherry Blossom ANBU
by VikingBench
Summary: On the way back home from the wave mission Sakura gets a wake up call. What happens when she begins to take the profession seriously and with a new goal. Some characters and zanpakuto from Bleach. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
1. Chapter 1

Sakura regained consciousness in pain. Peeking through her eyelashes she quickly had to close her eyes as the light from the sun blinded her. Slowly the memories of the past few weeks started to return to her.

Her team, team 7, had been hired by the bridge builder from the Land of Waves for protection. The mission was ranked as a C-ranked mission, which would have been her team's first higher ranked mission. After a few days of travel the mission went south when they were attacked by a pair of mission-nin that were after the bridge builder. Even after they discovered that the bridge builder, Tazuna, had lied about the mission parameters her two teammates decided to continue. Not wanting to disappoint her beloved Sasuke-kun she agreed. That turned out to be a mistake. When they finally arrived in wave they were attacked by one of the former seven swordsmen of the mist, Zabuza. Before he could be killed he was rescued by his accomplice dressed like a hunter-nin. The following week was spent actually training and learning the tree walking exercise while her sensei Kakashi recovered from his fight. When the week was up Zabuza attacked again with his accomplice Haku. The fight that followed would forever be etched into Sakura's memory. In the end the two, plus the man behind all this trouble, Gatou was dead and the bridge could be finished. Not that Sakura focused much on that considering she was busy fussing over her beloved Sasuke-kun, who had been injured during the fight, to care about anything else.

The rest of the time in the country went fine. It wasn't until the second day of their return trip during the night when they were sleeping that trouble brewed. Sasuke had kept watch and Sakura was sleeping before taking the second watch. What happened was that Sakura was woken by a hand covering her mouth as she was dragged from the camp right behind her Sasuke-kun who wasn't paying attention during his watch. Soon she was gagged and saw that it was a pair of bandits that had taken tried to make enough noise to make her team notice that she was missing as she was dragged by her hair, but it was to no avail. Ten minutes of fighting against her captives later she was dragged into their camp where she saw five other bandits waiting.

"Look what we have here. A young girl playing ninja." One of the bandits, a large, beardy disgusting man that seemed to have never washed grabbed her face as he spoke and looked over her body. Sakura tried to keep the tears in her eyes from leaking but it was hard work. Not only was she terrified of the man and the situation, but this is the second person in just a few weeks that say that she's only playing ninja.

'_What do they know? I was the top kunoichi of my graduating class._' She thought to herself as she started to panic. '_Who am I kidding? The only thing I have are my book smarts. Remove those and I'm pathetic. Always skipping meals and not training in order to make myself more attractive to Sasuke-kun. Not that he cares anyway._'

"A bit young, but I'm sure one of you guys will enjoy her. With her exptic hair she would fetch a fair amount of money when we sell her." The bandit continues as he lifts Sakura up from the ground by her hair and uses his other hand to start groping her. He laughs when he squeezes her small growing breasts. "Hopefully her tits will grow, but who cares." He continues groping downwards.

Tears now falling freely Sakura suddenly feels under her dress, her hidden kunai. Not wanting the man to wander further with his hands she pulled it out, drew it up and cut straight through her hair leaving it short. She landed on her feet shocking the bandit. Before he could recover she plunges her kunai into his groin and pulls to the side, severing a major artery making him bleed out quickly. Not that she saw that since, the second she pulled her kunai out, she pulled her gag out and called out "KAKASHI!" in hopes of help arriving. As she saw the other bandits creeping closer she steeled herself and ran towards the closest one who still underestimating the young girl, allowed her to get inside his guard and burry the kunai between his ribs. Sakura couldn't continue however as she was knocked unconscious by a fist to her face.

Now that her mind has regained consciousness Sakura is starting to pick up what is said around her.

"...weak. She isn't suited to be a shinobi. Why…" She heard the voice of Sasuke. Her crush which she has held for years was crushed, just like that. She still kept her eyes closed to listen to the others.

"...I like Sakura-chan, but she isn't good. I don't…" '_Even Naruto think that I'm pathetic. I promise that when we return to Konoha I will take this life seriously. I won't be pathetic anymore._'

"Ma ma, you boys are lucky she is unconcious. I don't want to find you saying something like that when she is conscious." Sakura almost flinched. The fact that Kakashi seemed to agree with them truly drove it home how little her teammates cared for her. '_It sounds like they think I'm an inconvenience to them. That they are annoyed that they had to rescue me. If that's the case, why hasn't Kakashi actually trained us._' Sakura stayed still for another minute before starting to move.

She immediately felt herself becoming dizzy when she slowly tried to stand up. She had to catch herself on the tree she was sat up against to prevent herself falling.

"Sakura-chan!" She looked up and saw Naruto and Kakashi approaching approaching her. She looked beyond and saw several bandit's knocked out and tied up. In the center of the camp she saw the two people she had killed. Sakura couldn't hold it in and threw up on the ground in front of her. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto repeated, this time sounding concerned.

"Naruto." Kakashi stopped the blonde with a hand on his shoulder. "Go and help Sasuke clean up and I'll talk with Sakura." He then turned back towards his female student who had stopped throwing up, but was looking at him with distant eyes. "Ne Sakura-chan, can you tell me how you ended up in the hands of some bandits?" Sakura swallowed and told him with a shaky voice.

"I awoke with a hand covering my mouth, preventing me from screaming. I saw Sasuke sitting and not paying attention when he should have been keeping watch. I was taken from right behind him." Kakashi's single eyebrow rose a miniscule amount with the lack of honorifics she gave the Uchiha. "He started dragging me away and before I knew it I was gagged and in the middle of the camp."

"Was it you that killed those two bandits?" Sakura didn't say anything but nodded stiffly instead. "When we get back to Konoha go directly to the hospital and get yourself checked out, you don't need to report with us, we can take care of that. I'm pretty sure you have a concussion. I will give the team one week off training and missions to recuperate, I would suggest going to a therapist and talk to them. Just don't forget to hand in a written report. Sounds good." He gave her his best eye smile before turning back to the boys.

Sakura walked to a stream that was nearby to clean up better. She stopped when she saw her reflection in the water. Her face was dirty and she had a deep cut below her left eye going about 3 cm down her face with a small branch going away 0.5 cm to the side of her face about 1 cm down. It looked like it had just stopped bleeding as her face bellow that was covered in blood. Her hair was much shorter, it was so short that she could look like a short haired boy with a bad short hairstyle.

'_I really took a beating._' She thought before looking at herself better. '_I need some new equipment, this dress isn't very practical and it doesn't blend in that well. I really need to do something about my hair. I should probably find someway to hide it and keep it short in hopes to be confused with a guy. I don't want to feel somebody's hands groping me like that again._' She shuddered at the thought. Taking one last look she stood up and walked back to camp to get ready for the travel back to Konoha.

One day later of none stop running team 7 finally reached Konoha. Sakura was glad to be able to split from her team. After the bandit attack and her concussion she had even less patience for Naruto's volume and stupidity. '_It's like he hasn't learnt anything since he began the academy, I mean he must have realised that shinobi is expected to kill at some point in their life right. Yet he wouldn't shut up about how bad I was to have killed them. And all Kakashi did was smile and giggle while reading his perverted book. And Sasuke had the nerve to blame me for getting taken when he was the one keeping watch._' She shook her head in an attempt to clear her head from the fog and dizziness.

She reached to hospital and was guided to a waiting room. Five minutes later her name was called. She was led in to a small room with a single hospital bed and a desk for the medic-nin. Said medic-nin was a short and curvy, black haired young woman in her mid 20s.

"Hello, my name Emi. What made you come to the hospital today?" Focusing on her doctor she answered as clearly as she could. She had learnt from a young age to always answer as clearly as possible by her parents.

"I was attacked by some bandits on my latest mission and was struck in the head. My sensei suggested that I was checked out."

"Mm, lay down and let me have a look." Sakura obeyed and lay down on the bed in the room. She saw Emi standing by her head and held out her hand. She felt Emi's chakra enter her system and look around inside her body. She was so focused on that feeling that she almost missed when Emi's hands glowed green above the area around her eye. "You can sit up now." Sakura did as requested but almost fell back down from the dizzy spell that fell over her.

"What is the verdict?" She asks clutching her hands above her chest in nervousness.

"It looks good." Emi reassures her with a smile."You had a concussion that I have treated as good as I can, you will still feel some dizziness and I would suggest not to train physically for another three days. Sadly because of the amount of time spent between the time you received it and now, I can't do anything about the scar that will be left after the cut." Meekly Sakura smiles at the medic.

"I don't mind." Indeed she doesn't. '_This scar will serve as a reminder to improve myself and I will use it as a motivator._'

One hour later Sakura was entering her home.

"I'm home." When no response was heard she let out a sigh, her parents wasn't home. Her parents were wandering merchants and as such was away for weeks, or even months at a time. Sakura had learnt at a young age how to take care of herself.

'_Now I'm glad that I brought home some gyoza. I would never have had the energy to cook myself right now._' Sakura moved to her kitchen and started to eat. The one good thing about traveling with her team was how they distracted her from what had happened. Here , in the solitude of her own home she doesn't have that. Slowly the faces of the bandits she killed stated to flash up before her and she could practically feel how his hands were groping her all over. She lasted for one hour before she walked over to her parents secret hiding place they don't think she knows about. She has soon walked back out with a big bottle of sake in her hand. It's easy to see how she doesn't remember much of the rest of the night.

Sakura stood outside of the psychology clinic gathering every inch of bravery she had and entered. Stepping up to the counter she followed the same procedure that she had yesterday at the hospital. Sitting and waiting she ran her hand through what was left of her hair. Earlier in the morning, after a healthy breakfast she had gone to her usual hairdresser. It's safe to say that she was horrified by the state of the pinkettes hair. Being forced into a chair Sakura left the hairdresser sporting a new wild pixie cut.

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura started by the voice looked up and her jaw dropped in surprise. Standing outside his office stood Inoichi Yamanaka, her former best friend's father. She knew he worked here, but she didn't think he was the one she was going to. Wanting to get this over with Sakura followed him into his office. "Please sit down." He gestured to the chair opposite him with the desk between them.

"Thank you." She mumbled in response.

"Now, what brings you to my domain today?" He said, his smile never leaving his face.

"Kakashi-sensei advised me to come based on our last mission."

"Oh? What could have happened that was so bad on a D-rank mission?" Letting out a deep breath Sakura answered the man who still had that annoying smile on his face. It didn't help that she was still somewhat hungover from the previous night.

"It was supposed to be a C-rank but it went bad." Finally his smile faltered little.

"Please tell me what happened." He saw that the girl was a bit hesitant. "I should remind you that I'm bound by oath not to reveal anything we discuss here, unless you are deemed a threat to Konoha."

That made Sakura relax, and soon she was telling him every little detail of the mission, not leaving anything out. The tears started to fall when she reached her abduction and she had to stop and collect herself when talking about being molested and the aftermath. As she reached the end of the story she sounded detached and almost mechanical as she spoke. During the story Inoichi hadn't said a single word.

"I see." The smile finally left his face as he leant back in his chair. "I am truly sorry you had too see the darker aspects of shinobi life at such a young age. Have you had trouble or anything since the incident?"

"Yes." She answers wiping the tear that had fallen from her eye. "When we stopped in the forest on the way i barely slept from the nightmares. And yesterday my house felt too empty with just me. So I started to see the faces of the men I killed all around me and it felt like he was touching me again." Inoichi nodded at the response.

"What did you do?"

"I found my parents' hiding spot for their sake and drank a bottle." That answer didn't seem to impress the older Yamanaka.

The first thing Sakura did when she left one hour later was to head to the library. She knew she needed to find her own path as a shinobi. She knew that she needed to improve, but was unsure on what to improve.

She knew that she had good chakra control considering she performed the tree walking exercise on her first attempt. She found a lone table and brought books on chakra control, chakra manipulation and a book on the different paths a shinobi can take. She began with the book on the different paths to soon became clear that there were a few ways she could go with her good chakra control. The first was medical ninjutsu and the second was genjutsu. Gathering even more books on those subjects and begun reading.

After spending a few hours reading up on the subject of medical ninjutsu and the role of a medic-nin. While she found it to be an attractive alternative at first, she soon dismissed it as an alternative. She like the idea of being able to heal her comrades she realised that she doesn't have the mentality to work as a medic. She would be unable to stand back and let people die and choose who to heal and who to leave to their fate. She returned the books and instead focused on reading more about genjutsu.

She soon realised that this is the direction that she wanted to go. She found it fascinating being able to cast illusions that make even the physically strongest of opponents easy to take down sounds perfect for somebody like her, who is small and physically weak. She read about them and felt that she would be able to make them work, but she decided to ask for some help from Kakashi. After all, it would help the team's teamwork if she could help as a support for her teammates.

Having decided she copied down some chakra theory, some basic jutsus and some chakra control exercises and went home to sleep without nightmares this time.

Sakura entered the Sharp Kunai weapon shop early in the morning to buy new equipment and a new outfit. Walking around the shelves she looked over all the weapons on display. They had everything from different kinds of spear, bo staffs, axes, polearms and every type of blade you can imagine.

'_You're not here for any one of those weapons. Focus on mastering what you already have Sakura._' Sakura had to remind herself.

Tearing herself from the weapons on display she started walking towards the opposite end of the store where the clothes were. She exited the store wearing her new outfit. Gone were the dress and in its place was black standard shinobi pants and black standard shinobi shirt with some sturdier shinobi sandals. As an outer layer she wore a dark green vest with mesh armour sow in to protect her torso better. She had also bought a dark green balaclava that she had yet to put on. On her thighs she had a weapons pouch tied to her left thigh and her hitai-ate tied to her right.

Racing through the village she was planning to go to a clearing she had found when she was younger that she hasn't told anybody about. She was in the forest walking towards the clearing when she heard somebody shout.

"Watch out." She turned and saw a blur of purple before being ran down by the person and everything went dark.

"Ugh, my head." She groaned when she regained consciousness. She moved her extremities and felt that she was propped up against a tree.

"The girl is awake." Opening her eyes she saw two people standing in front of her. The first was a young woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, warm brown eyes and a shade of red lipstick. She was wearing the standard black konoha shinobi pants, a sleeveless .black turtleneck shirt, armguards, gloves and a jounin flak-jacket. On her back was strapped something that looked like a wakizashi. The hilt is light-blue with a tsuba made of two slim swirls of metal looping around the blade to make an open oval, resembling an "S".

The other woman was fairly tall and had a slender frame. Her eyes were light brown and pupil-less. Her violet hair was styled in a short, spiky-fanned ponytail. She was wearing a mesh bodysuit that covered her from thigh to neck. Over the bodysuit she wore a tan overcoat and a dark orange mini-skirt.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going." The purple haired woman apologised. Sakura rubbed her head with her hand. "You were lucky to have avoided getting a concussion. Again I apologise."

"I don't think the hospital would be happy if I turned up with another concussion just two days after the last one." The violet haired woman laughed at her friend.

"Nice work Yugao-chan, you hit the one person that is already recovering from a concussion." Hitting her friend on the shoulder to make her stop, Yugao then turned to Sakura.

"Sorry about Anko. What were you doing in the forest anyway? There aren't many people that hang around in this area."

"I was heading to a clearing I found when I was a kid to train my chakra control and capacity. Kakashi-sensei gave us a week of from training and missions, but I felt that I really need to improve, so here I am." She noticed that Anko had suddenly gotten really quiet behind Yugao.

"You're one of Kakashi's brat's?" Sakura nodded in confirmation to the older woman. "I have to ask, what exactly happened during your previous mission. I have heard rumors, but I don't really believe them." Sakura paused for a moment.

'_Should I really tell them? I know Inoichi said that it would be good if I found a more experienced kunoichi I could confide in and find a better role model. Are these two it? Hopefully this won't bite me in the ass._'

Slowly and methodically Sakura started telling the two women about the mission and what had happened afterwards. She hesitated just for a moment when she reached the part with the bandit. She didn't even realise that she had started to cry. When the story was done she was engulfed on both sides by two beautiful women.

"I'm sorry that you have had to go through that at such a young age." Yugao whispered in her ear. Both women let go of her. "How are you handling it?" Sakura shrugged in an honest reply.

"I had some therapy yesterday, and I have several more sessions planned so we will see how they go." She looked at Yugao and saw that she looked over her with a critical eye.

"I'm assuming that is the reason why you're wearing clothes that make you look less feminine, to avoid getting targeted like that again? The only thing that makes you look feminine is your face, unless you're planning to hide that too." In response Sakura pulled out her new balaclava, put it on and pulled the lower part up above her nose concealing her face and hair. Yugao just started laughing. Anko meanwhile wasn't showing any smile.

"What the hell was Kakashi thinking? Taking out a team without having even taught them the tree walking exercise and then continuing the mission when it was clear that the employer lied and the mission would be higher ranked." She shook her head before looking at Sakura. "What exactly has he taught your team pinky?"

"Um, teamwork exercises and tree walking."

"Fucking hell. What the fuck is he thinking? That is borderline criminal, leaving his team that unprepared." In anger she started throwing kunai and shuriken at every tree she saw.

"I should probably drag her away and attempt to calm her down." Yugao said, mostly to herself. "Good luck training Sakura, and don't be afraid to ask for tips if we bump into each other." With that she dragged Anko away. Sakura smiled before continuing her walk to the clearing and a day of training.

Having spent the entire day working on her chakra control and reading up on genjutsu theory sakura was feeling famished. She had gone to the restaurant Yakiniku Q and was busy eating a hearty meal in the corner of the restaurant. When she bought the balaclava the worker in the store, an older genin called Tenten had taught her a small genjutsu that made it look like she ate and drank through the balaclava. She was enjoying both knowing how her sensei did it and the looks other people was giving her. She was surprised when she saw team 8 and team 10 enter the restaurant together and joined up at a table. She realised that she hasn't spoken to any of her old classmates since they graduated, but she honestly didn't feel the need to. Instead she went back focusing on her food just listening with half an ear to see if they said anything interesting.

"Did you guys hear about team 7's last mission?" Sakura sat up a bit straighter at Kiba's voice. Even though she continued to eat she decided to listen more carefully.

"It's hard not to when that idiot Naruto was screaming about it all over the village." Ino answered Kiba.

"Did you also hear the part of the bandits?" Shikamaru asked. Sakura could hear some concern coming from his voice.

"Sakura shouldn't have been taken by those bandits. Why? Because she hasn't shown any talent for life as a shinobi." Shino responded much to the surprise of Sakura and seemingly Shikamaru.

"E-e-even I agree that she isn't v-v-very good." Hinata stuttered from her seat. Sakura couldn't believe it, from her point of view it seemed like Shikamaru was the only one that didn't agree with them.

"I know. The only reason Forehead was top kunoichi of the year and in Sasuke-kun's team was because she could memorise everything. She's pathetic." They seemed to agree with her mostly.

"Don't you care at all Ino? She used to be your friend." Shikamaru looked at the others. "Even you Choji? Are you agreeing with them?" Sakura could see Choji nodding in agreement. "I honestly thought you were better than talking shit behind people's back Choji."

Having heard enough and having finished her meal, Sakura slowly walked to the door of the restaurant. Before leaving she turned around to look at the two team. For just a split second her eyes met Shikamaru's and recognition lit up in him. He gave her a miniscule nod of understanding before he turned back and focused on his meal. Sakura smiled slightly at the action before finally leaving the restaurant.

'_I will show them all. I will show them pathetic. I will become an elite, and to become an elite, you must join the elite. From this moment forward my goal in life is to join ANBU and become a captain. She will show them all._'

Finally team 7's week off training and missions were done. Sakura had begun truly working out physically. She felt proud of herself for the fact that she was now working hard towards her own goal.

Now she was back to waiting on Kakashi at her teams training ground. She was a little disappointed that neither of her teammates seemed to notice her new outfit, or the fact that she was working on her chakra control but decided that she shouldn't be bothered with them.

Suddenly without warning, Kakashi poofed up before them.

"Yo." He greeted them lazily with his two fingers.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto screamed in response as usual. Again nobody noticed that Sakura hadn't joined in for the first time ever.

"Sorry, I met an old lady that needed my help with her groceries before getting lost on the road of life." He gave them an eye smile as he mentally applauded himself for his brilliant excuse.

"LIAR!" Naruto screamed loudly as he pointed his finger at Kakashi.

"Mah Mah, today we're going to do some teamwork exercises for a few hours before doing another mission." As the two boys ran away to warm up, Sakura approached Kakashi.

"Sensei?" Kakashi looked Sakura, his eye piercing her. "During the break, I read up a bit on genjutsu. I have read and tried to work on them, but I might need some help."

"No." Kakashi answered shortly.

"What? Why?" Sakura was puzzled, why wouldn't he help her when she asked for it. Wasn't that the point of a jounin sensei?

"If you want training I will talk to the hospital and they will train you as a medic-nin."

"But sensei, I read up on that, but I'm not interested. I don't have the mentality." She said, confused by the fact that he was refusing her training.

"You don't know until you have tried."

"But… "

"No Sakura. I won't train you until you start training in medical ninjutsu." Kakashi said sharply, ending the argument there.

After training and the mission was completed, Sakura bought two basic genjutsu scrolls and started heading towards the clearing she used. Still angry at Kakashi, she didn't hear when somebody jumped down behind her and grabbed her shoulders and started to steer her towards the dango shop. Looking up behind her, Sakura saw that it was Anko which made her relax. When she had practically forced Sakura into a chair and ordered an insane amount of dango for herself she turned to the pink haired girl.

"What's got you so annoyed? You practically parted the sea of people as they didn't want to get in your way." Sakura watched in amazement at the speed Anko devoured her dango.

"Kakashi." Anko visually sagged at that response.

"What's he done now?"

"I told him that I had read up on genjutsu and was interested in it and asked if he could give me some tips. He pretty much told me to stop thinking about genjutsu and study training to become a medic-nin. Even when I tried to explain that I had read up on both subjects and wasn't interested at all in medical ninjutsu. That I don't have the mentality. He then told me that he wouldn't train me at all until I have decided to become a medic-nin." Sakura could now see how Anko looked truly annoyed.

"I was afraid of that." She said sounding somewhat defeated.

"Afraid of what?"

"Your team have a loudmouth, a brooding prodigy and a fangirl, now recovering fangirl, right?" Sakura looked a bit confused but answered nonetheless.

"Sounds about right."

"He's trying to recreate his own team." Anko stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you mean?" Sakura had never heard anything about Kakashi's team before and she couldn't figure out why.

"On Kakashi's team, he was the brooding prodigy, Obito Uchiha was the loudmouth and Rin Nohara was the fangirl that was also training to become a medic-nin."

"What happened to them?" Anko took a swig from the bottle of sake she had bought with her dango.

"Obito died at the end of the third shinobi war. That's where Kakashi's eye is from. I don't know the details of why, but I do know that Rin died by his own hands giving him the nickname friend killer Kakashi." Anko was slightly surprised when Sakura looked truly annoyed.

"So all this time, he hasn't even seen me for who I am?"

"Probably not." Sakura slid of the chair and started to walk away.

"Thank you for explaining Anko."

It had been another two weeks since the team meeting with Kakashi and Sakura had kept up with her training. Taking a small break from her chakra control training she pulled out a sealing scroll and unsealed a shamisen and softly begun playing. She had been playing the instrument since she was young, but fell away a few years ago. Inoichi had advised her to pick up a hobby so she dug it out again.

Shikamaru was slowly walking through the forest lost in thoughts. While he was mostly doing this in order to avoid his troublesome mother, he did really have things on his mind. Ever since the dinner his and team 8 had he was spending more and more time pondering about his role as a shinobi. When he realised that the person sitting in the corner had been Sakura, he was shocked. She looked like a true shinobi. Since then he had taken a step back and observed his team and teammates.

Ino was a fangirl of the highest order. She refused to train herself, yet complained loudly when she thought that the rest of the team wasn't training enough. She spent more time on her appearance than anything else. He had just returned from a C-rank where her perfume had actually given their position away.

He loves Choji, but the fact that he could talk like that behind somebody's back truly surprised him. He remembers his friend's reaction to finding out that some in the academy were calling him fat behind his back. The Akimichi destroyed several training dummies in his anger. He has spent a lot of time around the Akimichi clan, and he knows how much they need to eat. Choji eat close to double the amount and only trains a fraction of what he should.

His thoughts unavoidably steered towards himself. '_I'm a fool._' He thought. '_The shinobi forces is no place for somebody as lazy as me. I really need to shape up, or it might cause my team to suffer._'

He continued his slow walk through the forest, hoping that avoiding the Nara clan forest might give him extra time to avoid his mother. The Nara compound was actually situated between two different forests in Konoha. To the north east were the Nara clan forest, a forest where only the Nara clan members were allowed and they raised their deers. To the south west lay another forest. This forest was open for everybody, but as it lay a bit to the outskirts of the village, people rarely ventured there.

That's why Shikamaru was so surprised when he suddenly heard music in the distance. He swiftly turned to the direction of the music and continued on the journey. The closer he got the more mesmerised he became by the soft playing of a shamisen. Seeing a clearing between the trees, he hurried his steps before suddenly coming face to face with Sakura.

"Sakura?"

Sakura stopped playing and looked up at the voice. She saw a surprised Shikamaru looking right at her.

"Shikamaru." She greeted in return. This caused him to regain his senses somewhat.

"What are you doing here Sakura?"

"I was just taking a break from training. I've been training chakra control and studying genjutsu theory." She answers the Nara.

"I didn't know you could play?" He gestures at the shamisen in Sakura's lap. Sakura looks down and slowly begins to seal it up again.

"It was something I did when I was younger, but I haven't played in years. Decided to pick it up again."

"It was beautiful. You're talented Sakura." Sakura gives him a shy smile underneath her balaclava.

"Thank you Shikamaru. Now, why don't you sit down and explain why you're walking around lost in thoughts." Shikamaru gives Sakura a small, amused smile, but did as she asked.

"I'm struggling with my place in the shinobi forces." He slowly lays down on the grass, looking up at the leaf canopy above him. "When my team was formed I said that I wanted an average career, an average looking wife, one son and one daughter and that I will die as an old man before my wife." He lets out a deep sigh. "Now I feel that my entire mindset was wrong. Troublesome."

"What changed?" Sakura was actually very interested in the response. She was never really close to Shikamaru, but she honestly didn't have anything against him. She actually somewhat liked him after he stood up for her in the restaurant. Shikamaru glanced at the pink haired girl sitting against her tree before answering.

"First when I heard about your team's first C-class. Then the dinner when I saw you in the corner. At first I wasn't sure it was you. You looked like you were working hard and were showing true commitment. I knew that it was because of the mission that you changed but I couldn't understand what or why. Then yesterday on my C-class mission my team were ambushed by a group of bandits. The sole reason why was because the perfume Ino is constantly wearing and the sound of Choji and his chips. I saw the darker world of shinobi and I got a real wake up call. Now I'm just lost." Sakura pondered Shikamaru's words. It seemed like he was at the same place she had been.

"Find somebody to look up to. After that my mission I accidentally met two kunoichi that took time out of their day and talked to me. I look up to them as my role models."

"How do I find somebody like that?" Sakura simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know really. Find a shinobi you admire and ask them how they reached where they are now. Try to find someway you can reach that same height that they are at."

"I guess I look up to Asuma, but I don't think I would be interested to become one of the twelve guardians. My dad is the jonin commander and there are few positions above him." Silence fell over the clearing as Shikamaru lost himself in thought. "Troublesome." He mumbles. "Do you want to come over to my place and play some shogi, it always helps me when I'm stuck on something?"

"Sure." Sakura responds and she follows Shikamaru away from the clearing.

Yoshino Nara stood hiding at the doorway to the porch of their house. Why was she hiding? Her lazy son had brought a girl with him home and was playing shogi against her. At least she thought it was a girl, it was hard to see with how much of her was covered. This had never happened before and she was very excited.

"What are you doing?" Turning around she came face to face with her husband. Quietly she pulled him so he could see the duo sitting peacefully playing and talking. "Ahh, I see."

"Wonder who she is? I haven't seen anybody like her before around here."

"Troublesome." Shikaku sighs. "That's Sakura of team 7."

"Ino's Sakura?" Yoshino asks her husband.

"Yeah, she started dressing like that and train seriously after one of her mission went to hell."

"Wonder why Shikamaru is interested in her?"

"Troublesome. I heard from Asuma that their mission yesterday went bad and they were ambushed by bandits. Apparently it made Shikamaru question his place in the shinobi forces." Yoshino looks back at her husband, her eyes wide. She hadn't heard anything about a mission gone bad.

"You're aiming for ANBU huh?" They looked over as they heard Shikamaru. "Perhaps that's something I should look into." Pride filled both parent's eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

"You seem distressed." Shikamaru commented as he looked over Sakura sitting opposite of him looking down on the shogi board between them.

"Kakashi nominated us to the chunin exams." Sakura said as she moved her piece. "I'm not sure I'm ready."

"I'm not sure my team is ready either. Choji and Ino still hasn't improved despite Asuma's attempts."

"You're lucky, Kakashi hasn't even attempted with Naruto and Sasuke."

As they continued playing neither noticed the two people looking over them from a distance.

"She really has been a positive influence on our boy hasn't she." Yoshino Nara tells her husband Shikaku that's standing next to her. The male Nara could only nod in agreement.

"She really is something special. I never thought Shikamaru would ever plan on joining ANBU, but here we are."

"How come she's winning?" Yoshino asked her husband when she focused harder on the shogi board. "I know that she can defeat me, but she shouldn't be good enough to defeat Shikamaru yet."

"The first time our son sat back and formulated a plan she got him with a genjutsu. He still hasn't caught on." He told his wife with amusement.

Back to the game Shikamaru looked up at Sakura. The Nara compound and her own home were the only two places where she didn't wear her balaclava, she felt safe enough.

"My team is approaching." He told her. Sakura nodded in a thank you before reaching behind her and put on her balaclava again. Shikamaru winced slightly as he heard Ino approach loudly. He was glad he was a good enough sensor to warn her. He knew that she wanted to remain anonymous.

"I won." Sakura said as she moved her piece in position and removed her genjutsu. Shikamaru shook his head and looked up at her. She had used a common jutsu to modulate her voice so it sounded masculine. He thought back and wondered when he was caught in the technique when he got it.

"When I first paused and formulated a strategy?" He could practically feel Sakura's smirk behind her balaclava as she nodded. "I have never seen a genjutsu used like that before."

"Nowadays genjutsu are used almost like ninjutsu like the hell viewing illusion technique. I bought an old book from the warring clans era written by a genjutsu specialist. If the owner knew what he had it wouldn't have been so cheap. It was written that a genjutsu user manipulated everything from your opponent to the battlefield itself. The technique I used on you only worked because you're a genin and I put more chakra than usual in it." Shikamaru was a bit surprised that she managed to find such an old book but he didn't get to comment before his team finally reached them.

"Shikamaru get up you lazy bum." Ino yelled before leaping into Shikamaru and flipping the shogi board over.

"Get off me Ino. Is this how the heiress to the Yamasaki clan is supposed to act?" Sakura had calmly gotten to her feet and Asuma pulled Ino off and helped his male student up. Sakura could see the annoyance and almost anger on the faces of Asuma and Shikamaru.

"It's only your clan here so who cares." Ino responded flippant. Sakura felt embarrassed that she used to be friends with Ino and probably acted like this herself.

"Look again Ino." Shikamaru gritted out angrily through his teeth and pointed at Sakura. Ino looked at her in surprise before smiling again.

"Hello I'm Ino who are you?" She asked with a massive smile. Sakura sent an icy glare towards her making her flinch.

"You're rude." She said before turning towards Shikamaru. "I'll see you tomorrow." She left without another world.

"Ino you'll run one hundred laps around the training ground for warm up today." Ino was about to object but the angry glare Asuma sent her stopped her. Instead she pulled Choji with her and started running. Asuma turned to his remaining student. "Neither of them still understand. Who was that by the way?"

"Sakura." Shikamaru responded with a smirk.

After leaving the Nara compound Sakura made her way to the training ground that she used the most. In her personal opinion, she had improved immensely ever since the mission to Wave. Her skills with genjutsu was good for a genin proven by her success against Shikamaru. Her accuracy with shuriken and kunai have gotten more deadly and she knew where to aim and kill now. The biggest improvement in her opinion was how much her physical abilities improved. Ever since she stopped dieting and began working out properly she had gotten much faster and stronger. She doesn't recognise herself from just a few months ago and she couldn't be prouder.

As she got closer to the training ground she heard the clash of metal against metal. Jumping into the trees, she spotted her chakra as much s she could and crept forward.

In the training ground, two kunoichi were sparring against each other. Sakura smiled as she saw who it was. Locked in a battle between sword and kunai was Yugao and Anko. Sakura has trouble keeping up with their speed as she slowly crept forward and suppressed her chakra as much as she could. She stayed in the trees watching for several minutes before the two combatants took a break. Gathering her chakra she performed the hand signs and performed the genjutsu she planned.

Down in the training ground Anko and Yugao put distance between themselves after a constant thirty minute spar. Both were exhausted but the match was even. Just as they were about to re-engage when something happened. Anko was suddenly looking at herself on the other side of the clearing the same happened to Yugao. Both of them stilled before Anko started chuckling.

"Nice try Pinkie-chan." She called out to where she senses Sakura in the trees. Sakura jumped out of the trees and landed before the women.

"You forgot to change the smell and shadow." Yugao commented to her as she sheathed her sword.

"Sorry Yugao-San, Anko-San but I couldn't resist." Sakura stood with a small smile underneath her balaclava that she suspected the two kunoichis knew about. "I practiced genjutsu earlier and my chakra supply hasn't fully recovered yet."

"How did your practice go?" Anko asked while she walked around, recovering her thrown weapons.

"I defeated a Nara in shogi." Sakura stood proudly. That actually caused Anko to look up with a raised eyebrow and Yugao to hum in acknowledgement.

"Say you caught us in your genjutsu, how would you take us out?" Yugao asked the young girl.

"At this moment I would use a kunai, either up close or thrown." Sakura began. "My throwing power isn't that good so I'm saving up to buy a sword after the chunin exams."

"Smart thinking. A sword would fit you." Anko said before whipping her head towards the pinkette when she finally registered what she said. "You were nominated to the chunin exams? What the fuck is Hatake thinking."

"Are you going to sign up?" Yugao asked Sakura.

"I don't think I'm ready for chunin, but I think it would be good to experience an exam when it's here in Konoha." Sakura replied. She tried to look relaxed but she knew they could see right through her and see her fear.

"Good thinking, now follow me, we're going to plan." Anko took hold of Sakura and began dragging her away from the training ground.

A few days later Sakura entered the forest of death with her teammates. With the help of Anko, Sakura has come up with a plan to survive the exams. It was a simple plan, play to your strengths.

When they entered the academy for the first part of the exams Sakura couldn't felt a small pang of sadness in her chest. Even all these weeks later, neither of her teammates have so much as commented on her new commitment and clothes. Her sadness didn't last long as she was son greeted by Shikamaru who preferred to stand in the back with her and observe the competition. There were some that stood out to them.

The veteran genin from Konoha with the info cards stood out to them as they wondered how he actually got all that information on the foreign shinobi. The Oto shinobi stood out by the fact that this was their village's first exam and Sakura got a bad feeling about them. The two people that she felt were the most dangerous was the red headed boy from Suna that expelled a foreboding pressure and a Kusa kunoichi that both she and Shikamaru felt was just plain weird.

Sakura got an opportunity to implement her plans immediately. She quickly caught the true meaning of the exam. She mentally thanked the time she spent with Anko. Instead of trying to steal the answers she did the simple thing and simply answered the questions since she already knew the answers. After a the final question where Ibiki put further pressure on them it was off to the forest with them.

When they reached the forest they were given one of two scrolls and were told that they had to protect their scroll while simultaneously collect the other scroll and each three tower in the center of the forest in five days. Of course this lead to arguing between her two male teammates about who should carry the scroll. An argument that Sasuke finally won just before the gates opened.

During the first few hours they only encountered one other team. A team that they swiftly took care of with the help of her genjutsu. Not that her teammates noticed what she was doing. Sadly that team had the same scroll as them.

Sakura had just landed on a tree when she was hot by a massive wind jutsu. Naruto was blown away while she and Sasuke landed in a clearing. Sakura quickly got to her feet and looked around for the attacker. Her gaze was directed upwards to where the Kusa kunoichi was standing on the side of the tree and chuckling to herself.

"Kukukuku, what do we have here? The last loyal Uchiha." She jumped off the tree and landed in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "Now what shall I do with you?"

Warning bells immediately rang in Sakura's head and she knew they were out matched. Sadly no such bells rang with Sasuke who went on the offensive with a head on approach. He opened with a handful of kunai and shuriken that he threw that the kunoichi avoided with the smallest margin possible. By the smirk on her face, Sakura one that it was on purpose. Sasuke tried to engage with taijutsu, but again the kunoichi danced around and avoided the strikes with the smallest possible margin.

"Kukukuku, you almost got me there Sasuke-kun." She mocked the Uchiha

Enraged by the kunoichi Sasuke did a backflip to put some distance between than and went through the familiar hands signs to a fireball. As soon as she saw Sasuke begin to jump, Sakura went through her own hand signs and cast the geek viewing technique on the kunoichi. Sakura wasn't surprised when the kunoichi shrugged her technique off like it was nothing. But Sakura had trained for this until she collapsed. When the Kusa kunoichi dispelled her first genjutsu, Sakura immediately cast another one that her opponent missed. The new genjutsu made it seem that Sasuke's fireball s further away than it actually was. The result was that the kunoichi took a fireball to the face.

"Kami, I think I'm going to be sick." Sakura exclaimed when she saw what happened. The face of the foreign kunoichi was literally melting. Sakura almost the upp when she saw what lay behind the face. Behind the face was a different face, a face of an older feminine looking man that had a manic smile on his face. Sakura gasped as she recognised the man. It was the sannin Orochimaru. She knew that face after reading about him after she met Anko. Suddenly Orochimaru released so much potent killing intent that it made Zabuza look like an academy student. "Sasuke, we don't have a chance against him." Sakura pleaded to her teammate.

Luckily for her it seemed that he actually listened to her for once and pulled out their scroll.

"Here, you can have our scroll. Just leave us alone." He slowly states walking towards Orochimaru who didn't avert his gaze. Halfway there however Sasuke was suddenly pulled away by something orange.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto screamed as he held Sasuke down who struggled. "You're not the Teme. The Teme wouldn't give up against somebody like that. If you're going to give up the scroll, then stand back and look at me kicking his ass." Sasuke stopped struggling and narrowed his eyes. Finally he locked eyes with Naruto and gave a small nod.

"Let's do this Dobe." Dread filled the pit of Sakura's stomach as she watched them stand up again.

"Naruto, Sasuke we don't have a chance. We must retreat." She begged them.

"I'm never going to retreat against an opponent. I will kick his ass." Naruto screamed as he and Sasuke launched towards Orochimaru.

"Kukuku, let's see the combined power of the Uchiha family and the demon." Orochimaru calmly said.

They didn't have a chance. Orochimaru calmly avoided every single attack that they made. Sakura knew she needed to do something so she channeled as much chakra as she could and released the genjutsu she had prepared. The genjutsu was designed to make the world of the affected spin around. Sadly it didn't have any effect against to sannin. Instead it only brought his attention down on her.

"Kukuku, I'm becoming less impressed by the Uchiha family by the moment." He smirked before sending both Sasuke and Naruto to the ground. "I assumed that Sasuke-kun had used his sharingan to apply those genjutsu on me. Instead it was the unassuming girl that disguise herself as a man that used it. You better learn quick girl that there are stronger emotions to use with genjutsu then fear."

Sakura could only blink as her body suddenly exploded in pain and everything went black.

When Sakura next opened her eyes she was looking up at a white ceiling. She lay back and felt the soft bed she was laying on and relief flooded her. She was alive. She had survived an encounter with Orochimaru. She tried to move and she did succeed, but it hurt to do so.

"You shouldn't move until a medic have checked you out." A voice by the end of the bed said. Sakura looked down and saw her sensei standing, leaning against the wall with a slouch and his book in front of his eyes.

"What happened? The exams?" She asked, her voice weak and fragile.

"It seems that you managed to annoy Orochimaru enough that he decided to remove you from the fight. He used a mud shot at you that threw you through two trees. After he was done toying with you teammates he left and Naruto and Sasuke finished the exams dressing you with them."

.Kakashi still kept a jovial tone which annoyed Sakura to no end especially as it made her feel world that she had to be dragged through the exams by her teammates.

"What happens now?" She asked him.

"There was a preliminary round that you was unconscious for. That means that the exams are over for you now while both Sasuke and Naruto made it through to the finals." He got up from the wall and stood up straighter. "The finals are in a month and I will train Sasuke during that period. I have given Naruto another sensei during that period. I wasn't you to work on your medical skills here in the hospital. I believe you will be a good medic-nin in the future. You already show promise."

"But Kakashi-sensei, I've already told you that I have no interest in becoming a medic-nin." Sakura said with a frown, not looking where this was heading.

"Calm down Rin-chan, I believe in you." Kakashi said, his nose still in the pages of the book. Sakura was shocked. This was the proof that Kakashi had never seen her.

"Anko-san was right." She said softly. Her eyes beginning to water.

"Hm, what was that?"

"You really don't see me do you Hatake-san?" Kakashi recoiled as if shot. "You just called me Rin. You never saw me, you never beloved in me, you never had any interest in helping me reach my goals. You're so sick in the past that you see me as your dead teammate. A teammate that you killed. I know your nickname friend killer. After i her out of here I will apply to be released from your command. I will find my own teacher."

"As is your right." Both Kakashi and Sakura looked over to the door and stilled when they saw the hokage, Anko and a man she had never seen before standing in the doorway.

"Hokage-sama." Sakura performed her best bow towards the leader. Anko walked up to her and gave her a small hug surprising the pinkette.

"Kakashi you will go to straight my office and meet me there after I'm done here." The hokage turned to the hotel on the bed. "I approve of your transfer and might have a solution for your situation."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied before leaving them.

"Now Sakura-chan, I have heard two different stories about what happened in the forest, but I'm not satisfied with your teammates, sorry, former teammates recollection of the events. Can you please tell me what happened?" Even though it was worded like a question, Sakura knew that her leader had just given her a command.

She began telling them about what both she and Shikamaru had felt about the Kusa kunoichi. She then went on to tell them about the second exam. From the team they met early on and her role in the exchange. How they were hit by a wind jutsu, how Sasuke went straight for the attack, her use of genjutsu that led to the kunoichi getting hit. All three of them chuckled at the thought of Orochimaru getting caught in a genjutsu performed by a genin. She went on to tell them about the melting face, how she recognised him and every word he said during the exchange. She told them about how Naruto convinced Sasuke to attack when she told them they world lose. She ended the story after telling them about her brecht genjutsu and Orochimaru's response.

"You were very brave my girl." Hiruzen said after a moment of silence. "It seems that I need to have a conversation about not rushing in and attack without thinking about the consequences to your teammates to both Naruto and Sasuke. I don't trust Kakashi to say anything."

"What will happen to me Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked the old leader.

"I was approached by an old friend that was interested in you." He motioned to the man Sakura didn't recognise. Even though the man looked to be the age of the hokage he still looked tall and strong. His hair was spiky and while most of it was grey, some parts still held some orange to them. He wore flowing black cloth clothes and had a sword at his side.

"I have heard that you have an interest in kenjutsu from my student Yugao." Sakura's eyes widened and she nodded her head. "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo and I'm Konoha's sword master and member of Konoha's former sword unit. With our zanpakuto in our hands we easily outclassed the seven swordsmen of the mist. Sadly the art of kenjutsu fell out of practice in Konoha and today only Yugao and Hayate practice the art,and between them only Yugao owns a zanpakuto. I want to teach you the art of kenjutsu, will you allow me to?"

Sakura didn't have to think long about her response. With a shaky voice she bowed her head and replied.

"Hai Shishou."


End file.
